Truro Raceway off and running on a new season

With the initial card for the 2014 race meet in the books, event No. 2 is on deck for tomorrow afternoon, featuring an eight-dash card.

Post time for Sunday is 1:30 p.m. with a qualifying session set for noon.

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Donnie and Debbie Ellis are once again planning to campaign a string south of the border out of the Bangor Raceway, along with Kevin and Kyle Gillis and Malcolm MacNeil.

Included in their U.S. contingent is Rawdon Gold Digger, Casimir Hot Shot, Ghostbuster, along with the free legged pacer, Ultrasleek.

Also shipping out of Truro on Friday was Springhill native Chuck Symes headed to the Maine Raceway for the 2014 meet. Last year, Maine was a popular draw for several of Truro's regular stables, including both the George Rennison and Steve Morton camps.

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Ben Hollingsworth, an owner, trainer, driver, as well as a reporter for the Atlantic Post Calls' "Tracking Truro" column, will be periodically giving a brief update for the weekly Trackside column.

This week Ben acknowledged the success of the son of Western Paradise, The Rev. Bred and consigned by Arnold Fitzgerald this four year old was purchased by Robert and Jeffrey Skinner, Steven Tufts and GLB Stable out of Truro's 2011 Select Yearling Sale.

Hollingsworth is keeping a keen eye on this local Nova Scotia-bred graduate as he pursues a career at Toronto's Woodbine for the GLB Stables of Lakeview, N.S.

With a remarkable three-year-old season under his belt in Atlantic Canada, The Rev celebrated a record marking trip of 152.4 on April 12 in line to teamster, Doug McNair.

With Ben having left Truro earlier this week for Lindy Farms, Connecticut to answer the call of a summer job, horsewoman Christina Gillis will be taking over his duties for Atlantic Post Calls.

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Picking a winner in a horse race on any day can be a challenge but on an "off" or "muddy" track, the challenge can seem daunting.

Although the majority of horse players have developed their own systems, Shannon (Sugar) Doyle, Western Fair announcer, presented a story in the April edition of Trot Magazine outlining tips and checklists that might help racegoers handicap on an "off" track.

Doyle's technique involves primarily past performances to identify not only the horses but also the drivers and trainers that seem to show up in bad weather conditions. Doyle enhances his method by advising fans to do their homework regarding equipment changes as it can be a hint that the trainer is keying in on a difference maker to give the horse an edge over nasty turf.

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Non-stop simulcast entertainment continues throughout the weekend, commencing at 1:30 today with Freehold followed by both thoroughbred and harness racing from the finest tracks in North America. Red Shores Charlottetown Driving Park launches the 2014 spring/summer meet today with an early evening 6 p.m. post. The complete schedule of both live and simulcast programming is available on the Truro Raceway website.